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 |   
    
 !    are either
needed for service delivery, or help in the use
of the core product.

!    add extra
value for the customer. These different
supplementary services can be classified into
one of the following eight clusters.
 Types of Facilitating Services

!
  

Order-
Information Billing Payment
taking
 Types of Enhancing Services

!
  

Ô

Yospitality Safekeeping Exceptions

 The eight clusters are displayed as petals
surrounding the center of a flower, hence we call
it the Flower of Service.
 The petals are arranged in a clockwise sequence
depending on how they are likely to be
encountered by customers.
 Yowever, the sequence may sometimes vary. For
instance, payment may have to be made before
service is delivered rather than afterwards.
 In a well-designed and well-managed service
organization, the petals and core are fresh and
well-formed.
 £ service that is badly designed or poorly
delivered is a like a flower with missing or
dried petals. Even if the core is perfect, the
flower looks unattractive.
 Think about one of your negative experiences
as a service customer. When you were
dissatisfied with a particular purchase, was it
the core that was at fault, or was it a problem
with one or more of the petals?
 £ company¶s market positioning strategy helps to
decide which supplementary services should be
included. If a company¶s strategy is to add benefits to
increase customers¶ perceptions of quality, then more
supplementary services are required.
 For example, airlines such as Emirates, the award-
winning Dubaibased airline, may offer supplementary
service like goodie bags to soothe hyperactive children.
There is also in-flight entertainment such as cartoons
and games that can keep the children occupied for
hours.
 This will help to reduce the stress faced by parents
traveling with young children. If the strategy is to
compete on low prices, then fewer supplementary
services are required.
 "

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 To obtain full value from any good or service,

customers need relevant information .New customers
and prospects are especially hungry for information.
 Information may sometimes be required by law. Th ese
include conditions of sale and use, warnings, reminders,
and notifi cation of changes.
 Customers also appreciate advice on how to get the
most value from a service and how to avoid problems.
 Companies should make sure that the information they
provide is both timely and accurate. If not, it is likely to
make customers feel irritated or cause them
inconvenience.
 Traditional ways of providing information to customers
include using front-line employees, printed notices,
brochures, and instruction books.
 Information can also be provided through videos or
software-driven tutorials, touchscreen video displays, or
through company web sites. The types of information range
from train and airline schedules, to assistance in locating
specific retail outlets, to information on the services of
professional firms.
 Many business logistics companies off er shippers the
opportunity to track the movements of their packages,
which have been assigned a unique identifi cation number.
 For example, £mazon.com provides online customers with
a reference number and they can track the goods that they
have bought, and know when to expect the goods.
  )|!

 Once customers are ready to buy, the company

accepts applications, orders, and reservations.
 The process of order-taking should be polite,
fast, and accurate so that customers do not
waste time and endure unnecessary mental or
physical effort.
 Technology can be used to make order-taking
easier and faster for both customers and
suppliers.
 Order-taking includes applications, order entry, and
reservations or check-ins. Banks, insurance companies,
utilities, and universities usually require potential
customers to go through an application process.
 Order entry can be received through a variety of
sources such as through sales personnel, phone, and e-
mail or online.£irlines now make use of ticketless
systems, based on telephone or web site reservations.
 Customers receive a confi rmation number when they
make reservations and need to only show identifi cation
at the airport to claim their seats and receive a boarding
pass. Northwest £irlines promotes order-taking online.
 0!

 Billing is common to almost all services (unless the

service is provided free of charge). Customers usually
expect bills to be clear. Inaccurate, illegible, or
incomplete bills risk disappointing customers who may,
up to that point, have been quite satisfied with their
experience. If customers are already dissatisfied, the
billing mistake may make them even angrier.
 Billing should also be timely, because it encourages
people to make payment faster. Procedures range from
verbal statements to a machine-displayed price, and
from handwritten invoices to elaborate monthly
statements of account activity and fees.
 Busy customers dislike being kept waiting for a bill to be
prepared. There are diff erent ways in which bills can be
presented to customers in a faster way.
 Yotels and rental car firms now have express check-outs.
Many hotels may push bills under guestroom doors on the
morning of departure showing charges to date.
 Others off er customers the choice of seeing their bills
beforehand on the TV monitors in their rooms. Some car
rental companies have an express check-out procedure.
 £n agent meets customers as they return their cars. £fter
they have checked the mileage and fuel gauge readings, the
bill is printed on the spot using a portable wireless terminal.
 & 

 In most cases, a bill requires the customer to take action

on payment. One exception is the bank statement which
shows details of charges that have already been
deducted from the customer¶s account.
 Increasingly, customers expect it to be easy and
convenient to make payment, including using credit,
when they make purchases in their own countries, and
while traveling abroad.
 £ variety of options exist for customers to make
payment. For selfservice payment systems, one may
make payment by inserting coins, banknotes, tokens or
cards into machines.
 ood maintenance of the equipment is important.If the
equipment breaks down, it can destroy the purpose of
such a system.
 Most payment still takes the form of cash or credit
cards. Yowever, more and more shopping is being done
online.
 PayPal offers a fuss-free and secure way to make
payments for goods bought over the Internet.Online
shoppers must first register with PayPal and have a
credit card to use the service.
 Customers can make their payments via PayPal who
will process the payment to the seller. PayPal will then
charge the amount owed to the registered buyer¶s
account.

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 Now we move to enhancing supplementary services,

led by consultation. Consultation involves a dialog to
probe customer requirements and then develop a
solution that is suited to the needs of the customer.
 Examples of several supplementary services in the
consultation category-
 Customized advice
 Personal counseling
 Tutoring/training in product use
 Management or technical consulting
 £t its simplest level, consultation consists of immediate
advice from a knowledgeable service person in
response to the request, ³What do you suggest?´ (For
example, you might ask the person who cuts your hair
for advice on different hairstyles and products).
 Finally, management and technical consulting for
corporate customers include the ³solution selling´
associated with expensive industrial equipment and
services.
 Effective consultation requires an understanding of
each customer¶s current situation, before suggesting a
suitable course of action.
 ood customer records can be a great help in this
respect, particularly if relevant data can be retrieved
easily from a remote terminal.
 In an Internet environment, which encourages
customers to engage in self-service applications and be
more self-reliant, companies should not forget the
personal touch of a ³live´ human being during the
process of consultation.
 The human touch of a friendly customer-service officer
will certainly be valued and remembered, and will go a
long way for customers.
 Counseling is another type of consultation that is less
direct than consultation. It involves helping customers
understand their situations better, so that they can come
up with their ³own´ solutions and action programs.
 For example, diet centers such as Weight
Watchers use counseling to help customers
change behaviors so that weight loss can be
sustained after the diet program has ended.
 £dvice, another form of consultation, can also
be offered through tutorials, group training
programs, and public demonstrations.
 

 Yospitality-related services should, ideally, refl ect

pleasure at meeting new customers and greeting old
ones when they return. Well-managed businesses try, at
least in small ways, to ensure that their employees treat
customers as guests.
 Courtesy and consideration for customers¶ needs apply
to both face-to-face encounters and telephone
interactions.
 Yospitality is an element that can be more clearly
displayed in face-to-face encounters. In some cases, it
starts (and ends) with an off er of transport to and from
the service site on courtesy shuttle buses.
 If customers must wait outdoors before the
service can be delivered, then a thoughtful
service provider will off er weather protection.
 If customers have to wait indoors, then there
can be a waiting area with seating and even
entertainment (TV, newspapers or magazines)
to pass the time. Recruiting employees who are
naturally warm, welcoming, and considerate
helps to create a hospitable atmosphere
 Th e quality of the hospitality services off ered by a fi
rm can increase or decrease satisfaction with the core
product. This is especially true for people-processing
services where customers cannot easily leave the
service facility.
 Private hospitals often seek to enhance their appeals by
providing the level of room service that might be
expected in a good hotel. This includes the provision of
quality meals.
 Some airlines seek to diff erentiate themselves from
their competitors with better meals and more attentive
cabin crew and Singapore £irlines is well-recognized in
both areas.
 Failures in hospitality can extend to the
physical design of the areas where customers
wait prior to receiving service. £ survey found
that unappealing offices and lack of comfort
can drive away patients of cosmetic surgeons.
   !

 While visiting a service site, customers often want

their personal possessions to be ³looked after.´
 In fact, some customers may choose not to go to
certain places that do not have safekeeping
services like a safe and convenient car park.
 On-site safekeeping services includes coatrooms;
baggage transport, handling and storage;
safekeeping of valuables; and even child care and
pet care.
 Examples of
safekeeping elements.
 !&  0!
| 
 Child care, pet care
 Parking for vehicles, valet parking
 Baggage handling
 Storage space
 Safe deposit boxes
 Security personnel
 !$& *  +,
 
 Packaging
 Pickup
 Tranportation and delivery
 Installation
 Inspection and diagnosis
 Cleaning
 Refueling
 Preventive maintenance
 Repair and renovation

- 

 Exceptions involve supplementary services

that fall outside the normal service delivery.
Exceptions include special requests, and
problem solving.
 Companies should anticipate exceptions and develop back-
up plans and guidelines in advance. Th at way, employees
will not appear helpless and surprised when customers ask
for special assistance. Well-defi ned procedures make it
easier for employees to respond promptly and effectively.
 Managers need to keep an eye on the level of exception
requests. Too many requests may indicate that standard
procedures need to be changed.
 For example, if a dentist keeps receiving requests for more
information about a particular dental procedure, then this
may indicate that it is time to perhaps print some brochures
that educate customers.
 £ flexible approach to exceptions is generally a good idea,
because it refl ects responsiveness to customer needs. On
the other hand, too many exceptions may have a negative
impact on other customers, and overburden employees.
 Examples of
Exception elements.
   . "   
/  
 Children¶s needs
 Dietary requirements
 Medical or disability need
 Religious observances
 ! 
 Complaints
 Compliments
 Suggestions
 &, !
 Warranties and guarantees
 Resolving diffi culties that arise from using the product
 Resolving diffi culties caused by accidents,service
failures
 £ssisting customers who have suffered an accident or a
medical emergency
  
 Refunds and compensation
 Free repair of defective goods
 '! 


 The eight categories of supplementary services

forming the Flower of Service collectively
provide many choices for enhancing core
products.
 Some are facilitating services that enable
customers to use the core product more eff
ectively. Others are ³extras´ that enhance the core
or even reduce its non-fi nancial costs.
 £ny badly handled element may negatively aff ect
customers¶ perceptions of service quality. Not
every core product is surrounded by a large
number of supplementary services from all eight
petals.
 People-processing services tend to have more
supplementary elements, especially hospitality,
since they involve close (and often extended)
interactions with customers.
 When customers do not visit the service
factory, the need for hospitality may be limited
to just letters and telecommunications.
 Possession-processing services sometimes place heavy
burdens on safekeeping elements. Yowever, there may
be no need for this particular petal when providing
information-processing services, whereby customers
and suppliers interact at arm¶s length.
 Financial services that are provided electronically are
an exception to this however.
 Companies must ensure that their customers¶ intangible
financial assets and their privacy are carefully
safeguarded in transactions that take place through the
telephone or the web.
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   1     
 !, products. What is the diff
erence between a service and a product? £ ˜
is a
defined and consistent ³bundle of output.´
 One bundle of output can be differentiated from another
bundle of output.
 Service providers can usually offer a ³menu´ of
products, representing an assembly of carefully
prescribed elements built around the core product. They
may also bundle in certain value-added supplementary
services.
 & 0

 Most service firms offer a line of products rather than just a

single product. £s a result, they must choose among three
broad alternatives: using a single brand to cover all products
and services, a separate stand-alone brand for each off
ering, or some combination of these two extremes.
 The term b  

  
  b 
˜ 

 roup, which applies its brand name to multiple
off erings in often unrelated fields.
 Next on this spectrum are what they term b-b 
b-b 
 
the master brand is the main
reference point, but the product itself has a distinctive name
too. Singapore £irlines Raffles Class, the company¶s
business class service, is an example.
  !0 
-  

 Branding can be used at both the company and

product level by almost any service business.
 In a well-managed firm, the corporate brand is not
only easily recognized, but it also has meaning for
customers. The brand stands for a particular way
of doing business.
 £pplying distinctive brand names to individual
products helps marketers to establish a mental
picture of the service in customers¶ minds and to
clarify the nature of the value proposition.
 Th e Forum Corporation, a consulting
firm, differentiates between
 Experience with high variation from customer
to customer,
 £ branded experience that is similar across diff
erent firms, diff erentiated only by the brand
name (£TMs are agood example), and
 £ ³Branded Customer Experience´ in which
the customer¶s experience is shaped in a
specifi c and meaningful ways.